View Full Version : Betwixt the Land of Wynken and Nod - A short on the XH-A1


Josh Chesarek
February 26th, 2007, 12:19 AM
I filmed a short this week for a Student film festival using the Canon XH-A1 using Preset 14 from the library and ambient lighting. I think it turned out well. Story could use some work but eh, next time :). Hope you all enjoy. A flash version is online now and higher res versions will follow soon. Any comments are welcome. I know the sound and dialog at the end needed some serious help but we ran out of time as we only had the 1 week to do everthing but only a day where we all could meet up. Thanks!

http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/shortvid.html - Flash Vid
http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/Betwixt_the_Land.mov - 480P Quicktime (93MB)

Josh C.

Hayes Roberts
February 26th, 2007, 05:29 PM
Hey, Great Job, Josh!
That was pretty funny- I remember days like that. You had some nice shots there--the one where he runs across the field with the sprinklers -Ha Ha-Yeah -Pretty good!

Josh Chesarek
February 28th, 2007, 08:00 AM
Thanks, a group of us will be trying to do some more on our own time to get better at this. My first goal is to find someone else to write :p Then spend all my time behind the camera working on that :)

Adam La Prade
March 19th, 2007, 08:58 AM
Hi Josh! This wouldn't happen to be for Campus Movie Fest, would it? How did you fare?

I goto UCF (right up the street) and I am looking to buy the XH-A1 in the next week or so. How do you like it?

Josh Chesarek
March 19th, 2007, 09:28 AM
Yeah it was Campus Movie fest. We did a lot better last year :p We were in the top 16 but didnt win anything. There were certianly better movies than ours this year, but the odd thing was, they didnt win either. There were no repeat winners but all films that were shown were really good :) The show its self had some issues because they started an hour late and had to run through the winners without really saying much which kinda sucked. Anyway, as for the camera I love it, it is certianly a step up from my GL2. If you are around the area (we just had spring break) maybe we can meet up so you can get your hands on it as it certianly is a big investment.

Adam La Prade
March 21st, 2007, 06:51 AM
Congrats on making it into the Top 16! WIll you be going to the Florida Finale?

The video I shot was for UCF's CMF. We were nominated for best picture, bur didn't win. Here's our video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ993aR70xQ

Bad quality, I know. We shot on a Sony A1U (another HD Cam) and I'm trying to sell that one to buy the Canon A1. I'm fed up with the poor light of the A1U. We just had spring break here as well, so now it's back to school! So would you say overall that you're satisfied with the Canon A1?

Josh Chesarek
March 21st, 2007, 07:36 AM
I am very satisfied with the camera. The only thing is that for being hand held camera it is pretty heavy which has left me wishing it was a shoulder cam. I have however fixed that issue for the most part with a Steady Stick by Tiffen. Looks kinda goofy but oh well. The pictures that it can put out once you start to tweak it can be amazing. Just look around in here at all the footage. A great place to start will be with the presets library thread so you can download presets and load them into the camera and tweak them to your needs. I think I will be going to the finale so I can see the other videos that have been made. Should be good fun. Just got a chance to watch your video and you had a really good story. I enjoyed watching it.

Josh Chesarek
April 4th, 2007, 05:45 AM
Hey Adam, Congrats on the nomination. Looks like we are up for the same thing!

http://www.thegoldentripod.com/

Adam La Prade
April 4th, 2007, 08:43 AM
hey, congrats as well! I didn't even know what we were nominated for until I saw that! I guess I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow night!

Also, I ended up getting an XHA1 and I absolutely love it.